GROWING A NICHE

Good Earth Plants, sister company Greenscaped Buildings specialize in relatively new concepts

If you’re over the potted-plant look and have some tax money to spend on your home or business, one thing to consider is a wall garden or green roof.

This special niche in the landscaping world remains relatively unknown but has in recent years attracted big-time clients such as celebrity chef Mario Batali, SDG&E San Diego Gas & Electric and the Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley.

The company that served those clients and many more is Good Earth Plants, which evolved from a downtown San Diego plant kiosk to a warehouse space in Kearny Mesa. It also birthed sister company Greenscaped Buildings.

Most of Good Earth Plants’ work is plant landscaping, but its green roof-living wall portion of business is nearing 50 percent, said president and founder Jim Mumford. Two years ago, it was nonexistent.

“I’m not going to get rich on it,” said Mumford, referring to his specialty installations. “It gives us steady work. It’s a very niche part of the landscaping world.”

U-T San Diego talked to Mumford about the growth of his business and why someone would want to install one of his alternative gardens.

Q: You gradually entered this niche market over the course of many years. How did that go?

A: It was 1994. I sold off all my flower shops. I had three retail locations. I wanted to focus on just plant service. An architectural convention came to town in 2003. I saw a sheet of a green-roof module tray. I didn’t understand it. But I was intrigued. Also, it was 2003, and the Cedar fire came. It burned down my house. I lived by Barona. I had two little kids, and I was rebuilding my house. I started looking for what was different. I talked to a colleague who heard about the green-roof thing.

Q: Then what happened?

A: I said ‘Gee, no one is doing green roofs here. What do I do?’ I had buildings. I said, ‘Let’s do one of them.’ … In March 2007, I did engineering and put a new roof down with 3 inches of soil in the current office building in Kearny Mesa. It was the first green roof on an occupied commercial building in San Diego.

Q: Why do people do green roofs and living walls?

A: Sometimes for the environmental benefit. Many times, the view. The main one is how they cool your house down. Also, the codes have changed. When rain hits your house and it goes down, it’s bad because of runoff. So a green roof can mitigate that. They hold on to 60 percent to 80 percent of rainfall when it rains on buildings. Other benefits for both include biodiversity. It’s a habitat for birds, bees and critters.

Q: What’s the demand been like?

A: It didn’t even exist a few years ago. There’s been a tremendous amount of inquiries. But when you get into costs, reality starts to set in and the percentage of clients going forward diminishes greatly.